


The Familiar

by Cloudy_Serendipity



Category: Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Genre: Abduction, Abuse, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Anal Play, Deception, Evil Plans, Explicit Sexual Content, Forced Medical Procedure, Guilded Cage, Kidnapped, Lies, Mind Games, Moral Dilemmas, Multi, Oral Sex, Protectiveness, Public Sex, Rape/Non-con Elements, Sexual Slavery, Titus Being an Asshole, Torture, Vaginal Sex, Violation, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-21
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-03-09 04:31:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18909604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cloudy_Serendipity/pseuds/Cloudy_Serendipity
Summary: Titus Abrasax has coveted the Earth since his brother Balem inherited it after the death of their mother.  Now, millennia later, he is presented with a way to take it from him and claim the Earth and all its resources for himself.  All it has taken is the discovery of a girl who knows nothing of the true nature of the Verse, recurrences, and Regenex.Jupiter Jones is a Russian/American cleaning lady, until suddenly she's abducted and taken into space.  Torment and abuse are not her only worries as she tries to escape her dire situation with the help of her one-time abductor, the Lycantaint splice known as Caine Wise.If you thought Titus was a douche-bag in the movie for wanting to marry and murder his mother's dopleganger then you're going to get a shock at how depraved he is in this alternate universe.





	1. Deceptions

**Author's Note:**

> Jupiter Ascending was the first fandom I ever fell in love with. I've had so many ideas floating around in my head, and even put some down in text, but never been brave enough to share them, until now.
> 
> I know the dynamic between Jupiter ad Caine is cliché but it's so right it can't be wrong. Maybe I'm a sucker for that whole damsel in distress trope. Maybe I just like tormenting the characters. Who knows.
> 
> Feel free to give me your thoughts.
> 
> As always, I must say that I don't own the characters and story that this fic is based on but I will enjoy toying with them and adding my own flair.

Glee was an emotion unbecoming of someone of his stature and heritage.  The giddy bubbling of joy within was barely contained by his usual self-assured smile.  Perhaps there was more of a sparkle to his eyes today, more enthusiasm to his tone, or perhaps it was his brother’s paranoid nature that had Balem eyeing him with poorly disguised disdain.

“Dear brother, I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.”  Titus smiled benignly at the projection in front of him.  Lies and manipulation where the only reason he got out of bed these days, quite literally.  “I’ve barely ventured from my theatre in days, scarcely had time to eat let alone plan illegal vacations to farm planets that don’t belong to me.”

He didn’t think it possible but had Balem just pursed his lips into a tighter, more disapproving line?

“Which one did you say it was again?  Earth?”  It was unwise to goad his brother, but Titus loved mind games, and this danger was no less a worthy recipient of his flirtations.  “Ahh yes, Mother’s favourite.  I never did see the appeal.  Too uncivilised for my tastes.”  He sipped at a fluted glass of glowing golden fizz to conceal his smirk.

“Come now, Titus.”  Kalique smiled brightly, almost mischievously.  “The very same planet you enquired after, only last week?  And now the stock is being pilfered?”  She shook her head and tutted in that disappointed way mother would when Titus had misbehaved as a child.

“I would hardly call one missing tercie a pilfering.”  He scoffed.  “More die each minute from war, disease and famine.  What is one in the grand scheme of things?”

“It’s the principal!”  Balem screeched, his face red, even for a projection.  “The Earth is mine!  Trespassing is forbidden.”

Through the semi-transparent projection of his siblings, Titus caught a glimpse of his Majordomo and the hunter, stepping into the room, escorted by four gun-droids.

“If I find out…”  Balem rasped, cocking his head slightly.  “If it was you…”

“I assure you, brother, I have made no such infringement on your property.  I would never behave so scandalously.”  Titus drew a false veil of profound honesty over his features, saddening his eyes and humbling the smug pout he wore.  “I hope you locate your missing stock, and in the meantime, if I hear anything, I will endeavour to inform you.”

Kalique was the first to disconnect, once her ploy to sew further seeds of discord between the brothers had failed.  Balem nodded curtly before dropping away also.  He shut off the FTL before standing to straighten his tunic.

“My Lord.”  Famulus stepped forward, dipping at the knee.  “The hunt was successful.”

“Yes, it would seem so.”  Titus stepped from the dais to sidle between the two splices.  “Why am I finding out from my brother rather than the hunter whom I pardoned, and paid good credits?”  He fixed the lycantaint runt with a cold stare.

He’d taken a risk, retrieving this criminal from the Deadlands.  Savage tendencies aside, Titus had chosen the ex-skyjacker simply because of his reputation as the best hunter the Gia had ever seen – he’d never failed a mission.  It was difficult to see the threat, watching the splice now; compliant, docile even, gaze fixed to the floor, almost shying away from his new master.

“Mission report.”  Famulus snapped.  “His Highness demands answers.”

The lycantaint lifted his head to stare blankly forward.

“Lord Titus.”  He paused, tasting the words in his mouth, jaw shifting slightly.  “Successful extraction of the target was more complicated than expected.  There were…”  Another pause, as if considering his words carefully.  “Casualties.”

“Explain yourself, Mr Wise.”  Titus accepted the damages report sheave from Famulus, casting a cursory glance at it.  The number of lost personnel was of no consequence, the lost ship was, however, frustrating and worrying.  If any of it could be traced back to him then Balem would ruin him.

“You were not the only interested party, Your Highness.  There were other hunters pursuing the target.  The keepers were already involved when I arrived, and things were already, uhhh… _messy_.”  Wise shifted a little as Titus moved around to face him.  “My contact was killed, and the ship shot down.  I could not extract the target without transport and to contact you would have created a possible trace to you.  I allowed the other hunters to collect the target and stowed away on their ship.  Once we had portaled away into the Cerise system I took the ship and brought the target here, indirectly of course.”

“Thank you, Mr Wise.  You have performed admirably.”  He turned to Famulus.  “Ensure all evidence is found of the other hunters.  I want Balem to trace them back to Cerise.  Kalique will be a fantastic distraction for him while I carry out the rest of my plans.”

“Yes, my Lord.”  Famulus curtsied and turned to leave.  “Follow me, Mr Wise, I will escort you to your quarters.”

With a formal bow, the lycantaint followed, as bidden.  Titus had already decided to keep Mr Wise in his employ for the time being.  He had not yet submitted the pardon he’d acquired for the splice’s criminal charges.  Leverage was not something one should relinquish easily.

The fizzing of excitement filled him with energy.  He would have to wait to try out his new acquisition in the theatre, but in the meantime his attentions would be directed towards a warbler-bird splice who could perform miracles with her throat.  His skin tingled at the memory of purple feathers and vibrations flowing through his body.  Maybe it was the Talaxian Amber he’d been drinking, maybe it was the thrill of besting his siblings, but Titus felt truly young again.


	2. Uncertainty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jupiter learns of the Verse, what little she can glean, anyway. She forms a quick bond with her abductor, Caine, in some strange interstellar Stockholm syndrome type situation.
> 
> Confused and alienated from her family, Jupiter grieves but her separation from her family should be the least of her worries.
> 
>  
> 
> _Jupiter had never felt so alone. Tears welled up in her eyes and her chest constricted until she could barely breathe. She sat down on the floor and cried into her knees, wet gasping sobs shaking her body. She wanted nothing more than to be held in her mother’s arms and reassured that everything would be ok. Was mama even ok? And aunt Nino? They’d be frantically worried about her._

Jupiter Jones, Russian-American cleaning lady and illegal alien, was in shock.  Hours ago, or was it days, she discovered the existence of real aliens.  As in really real aliens from outer space; little grey men who looked and sounded like people at first but who phased into their true form, and clicked and trilled at each other like something out of a sci-fi movie.  She was told they were called Keepers.

At first she thought it was the drugs they gave her at the fertility clinic.  She’d been spaced out enough not to realise right away when the nurse had shut off her air.  She fought.  By god had she fought, but the nurses put some kind of restraining device on her wrists and ankles, so she just hung there above the bed, suffocating and terrified.  Then the nurses weren’t nurses, they were aliens, and there were ray-guns and explosions going off around her.

Someone had saved her, she remembered that much.  Her mask had been pulled off and she was scooped up into strong arms.

“Who _are_ you?”  She had sighed, fainting in his arms.

“Caine Wise.  I’m here to help you.”  He said gruffly as he carried her to safety.

Jupiter had woken to find herself in a partially renovated room at the top of Willis Tower. She hadn’t fought him.  Why would she?  He saved her life and was trying to get her out of the city.  He explained a few things to her, about the (uni)Verse, other worlds and different species of humans.

“I’m a genomegenered human, a lycantaint, a soldier.”  There was a shadow in his eyes when he looked at her.  “My DNA was tainted with that of a lycan.  It’s kind of like a wolf.”

“You’re a wolf-man?”  Jupiter laughed nervously.

“Of a fashion, yes.  I’m a splice.  Not a pure human.  We’re like workers, made for a purpose.  Kind of like bees in a hive.”

He’d been kind.  Talked to her.  Helped her come to terms with some of the shock she felt.  Explained about Keepers, and Balem Abrasax.

“He owns the Earth, and obviously wants you dead.”  Caine fiddled with a device that looked like a miniature solar array for a NASA rover.  “I was hired to lift you.  A simple track and retrieve.”

“Why me?”  She knew she was whining, her loosely held control slipping.  “Who hired you?”

“Titus Abrasax hired me.  I don’t know why, I’m just a soldier.  I didn’t think other hunters would be after you and I certainly didn’t expect to be running from Keepers.”  He frowned.  “There’s nowhere on this planet we can hide where they won’t find you.  I need to get you off world ASAP.”

 

Jupiter recalled the fury in Caine’s eyes when he discovered that his getaway ship had been destroyed.

More Keepers had come for them after that, in ships (no bigger than cars) that twisted and changed shape as they flew and turned.  Caine had run, or rather air-skated, with her on his back.  She had clung to him fiercely as he frantically traversed the Chicago skyline, putting buildings between them and their pursuers.

Somehow he managed to get into one of the ships and use it to take down the rest.  He flew like he fought, at break-neck speed with precision movements that Jupiter couldn’t track.  Her absolute fear turned somewhat to excitement as they skirted around the city and it became apparent that Caine’s skills were no match for the Keepers.

“We can’t use this to escape.”  He’d said, on the ground, as he set the already half-destroyed ship to blow.  “Even if it were capable of portaling, it’s too damaged to survive the passage.”

 

They found their way to an underground parking garage where Caine cased out the cars for security and ease of theft.

She screamed when she was grabbed from behind.  Caine didn’t fight, he simply raised his hands in surrender.  She wanted him to fight, to save her again.  Maybe he knew he was outnumbered.  Maybe he was just tired and decided that keeping her safe wasn’t worth the money.  Somehow in those few hours she’d formed a bond with him, and it hurt that he let her go so easily.

Of course, she knew better now.  He’d followed her onto the other hunter’s ship unseen and had killed her three captors right after they had warped, portaled, whatever, to orbit above a beautiful pink planet.

“It was the only way to get you onto a ship and away from Earth.”  Caine explained after Jupiter had stopped freaking out.  He draped a thermal blanket around her to help with her shivers.

“I thought they were going to kill me.”  She gasped, clutching the soft fabric tight around her shoulders.

“The Keepers were trying to kill you, Jupiter.”  That was the first time he’d said her name, awkwardly, hesitantly, as if it was wrong to become too familiar with her.  “These other hunters, like me, were on orders to retrieve you.  It would have meant punishment if they had killed you knowingly”

 

They had portaled twice more before ditching the transport for another, older one.  Each time, her stomach churned and twisted so badly she had trouble keeping her gourde down.  Caine didn’t seem to mind, maybe his super genetics made him immune.

After switching ships, they portaled another two times before arriving along side a huge space cruiser that looked like a giant lionfish.  It was nothing like ships on Star Trek.

The interior of the ship was that of grandiose opulence. Golden statues lined the hangar, which contained other, larger, vessels than the rusty old bug-shaped ship they’d arrived in.  Caine directed Jupiter to a tall woman in skin-tight satiny trousers whose ears were overlarge.

“Lord Titus is busy at present, but please allow me to welcome you to his clipper.  My name is Famulus, I am his _personal assistant_ , as it were.”

“Nice to meet you.”  Jupiter didn’t know if space people shook hands, hugged, or bumped heads together, so she just stood.

“Lord Titus has insisted that we see to any medical issues immediately.  I’m sure Mr Wise has done his best to spare you from harm, but these Legionnaires are valued for their brute strength and durability, not for their ability to preserve the fragility of delicate flowers such as ourselves.”  She winked cheekily at Jupiter before glowering past her to where Caine was standing stiffly.

 

The medical bay was not what she expected.  It was more like a hi-tech bathhouse than any medical clinic she’d ever seen, even on TV.  There was a row of tiled recesses in the floor, each with a raised control panel at one end.  Some of them were open and empty, some were covered with metal lids, but one had a body floating inside.  Jupiter turned away as she passed, horrified.

“He’s getting a restorative treatment.”  Caine offered.  “He’s in stasis.”

Jupiter just nodded.  None of this made sense to her, not really.  She was clueless.  Adrift in the sea of unease.  Her ignorance of this new world was a dense fog to her mind.  She felt overwhelmed.  Why her?  They’d tried to kill her, but for what?  Now she was so very far away from home and the only person she knew for sure was looking out for her was Caine.  Technically he was her abductor too.  He’d refused to let her go home.  It hadn’t been an option if she wanted her family to remain safe, no one would go looking for them unless they thought she was with them or that they could use the family as leverage.  To be so far away from them would keep them safe.

 

They passed into a room with several glass chambers on hydraulics and hover-beams.  One moved into a horizontal position with the smooth whirring of an electric motor.  There were little mechanical arms on the inside that she didn’t like the look of.

“This is a med scanner.”  Famulus said.  “If you would oblige by getting undressed ready for the examination, a technician will be right along to get you fixed up.”  She smiled, wiggling her ears a little.

Jupiter looked at Caine, who wore the same impassive expression he’d wore since they arrived on the clipper-space-station.  He didn’t seem concerned at all.  He met her eyes briefly.

“Come along, Mr Wise.”  Famulus smirked.  “We have some matters to attend to.”

He hesitated, unclasping his hands from behind his back.  He opened his mouth as if to speak but clamped his jaw shut with a heavy exhale and then stalked away, leaving the room empty.

 

Jupiter had never felt so alone.  Tears welled up in her eyes and her chest constricted until she could barely breathe.  She sat down on the floor and cried into her knees, wet gasping sobs shaking her body.   She wanted nothing more than to be held in her mother’s arms and reassured that everything would be ok.  Was mama even ok?  And aunt Nino?  They’d be frantically worried about her.

The door slid open with a quiet hiss.  Jupiter looked up at the plasticky face of the robot doctor.

“ _I_ , am med-tech Bob, here to assist you through the cleansing process.”  His head wobbled slightly as he beamed an unnerving faux-smile, clearly unperturbed by her state of distress.

A fresh bout of tears welled up and Jupiter threw her face back into the cradle of her arms and knees.  She sobbed and wailed until her head hurt but Bob just looked on still wearing his inane smile.


	3. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caine is summoned to help deal with the tercie in the med bay. He finds himself responding protectively to her vulnerability, and also admiring a strength he senses below the surface.
> 
> This is only the beginning of Jupiter's ordeal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Canon-typical Caine in terms of his protectiveness. Canon-atypical Caine in terms of empathy. Also, Jupiter is still overwhelmed and upset, she's a little sassy but I'm hoping to bring that out a bit more in the next few chapters before she's broken later on, Can anybody say _rollercoaster_?

Caine had never had his own quarters.  In the splicing facility he’d shared a crèche with his litter and then later a dorm with other solo splices.  In the Legion he’d shared a bunkhouse with his company, and then as a Skyjacker he shared a smaller bunkhouse with his unit.  In the Deadlands he’d slept in any safe nook or cranny he could find, if he slept at all.

This was luxury compared to everywhere else he’d stayed, more like human staff quarters than anything a splice would be given.  The bed was a small double with proper sheets and pillows instead of the plastic-covered hygiene bunks they had in the Legion.  The room had a private washroom, with a shower, not just a sani-slot to piss in, and real soap instead of the chemical rub he was used to.

 

Caine sat on the bed.  It felt wrong for him to be here.  Everything felt wrong.  From the moment he’d been pulled from the Deadlands and set in front of Titus Abrasax, of all people, he’d felt uneasy.  He hadn’t recognised the feeling at first because he’d been given a second chance, an offer of a pardon in exchange for doing a job he’d done well his entire adult life.  Overwhelmed with relief he’d snapped up the job without really thinking.  The thought of working for an Entitled hadn’t factored into his decision, though it really should have.  They were fickle, manipulative, and often very cruel.  There was a chance that Titus would go back on his deal and have Caine thrown back in the Deadlands.  He supposed he would have lost nothing if that was indeed the case.

The job hadn’t been what he had expected either.  The whole thing had been far more complicated than he’d been told.  Political disputes always occurred between Entitled but rarely those of the same family, and especially not with the whole family involved.  Titus had pulled off a risky manoeuvre in stealing from Balem, with Kalique involved too.  All of them fighting over one tercie.

She hadn’t seemed anything special when he’d found her, although something about her scent hadn’t been quite right.  The gene-scent was off slightly but that could mean anything; age, hormone imbalance, illness.  Perhaps that’s why Titus insisted on a medical.

The tercie had trusted him, relied on him.  Perhaps she shouldn’t have, Caine didn’t know what Titus’s plan for her was.  Balem wanted her dead but Titus and Kalique wanted her alive, for now.  He wondered what she knew that made her such a threat to someone like Balem Abrasax, and such an asset to his siblings.  If there was to be an Entitled coop, Caine wanted to be as far away from that business as possible.  He’d collect his pardon and leave, maybe see if he could be reinstated in the Legion.  He might never be a Skyjacker again but he could try.  He’d succeeded before when everything, even his genes, said he’d fail.

 

His comm chimed.

“Wise, here.”

“Mr Wise, I require your services.”  Famulus sounded vexed.  “Please come down to medical immediately.”

“On my way.” 

What the hell had happened now?  He’d left medical to have his debrief with Titus maybe an hour ago.  He wondered if they’d found some damage that he was ultimately responsible for.  Would Titus withhold his pardon for that?  Surely a quick Recell treatment would fix it.

 

The door remained sealed when he approached.  The security controls were on, which was strange.  He scanned his clearance for entry.

Famulus, the med-tech android and one gun-droid were standing a safe distance away from the sobbing ball of tercie woman curled up in the corner of the room.  There were tools and trays scattered across the floor like there had been a fight.  The woman appeared unharmed but the same could not be said for the med-tech, he had a tear in the sleeve of his lab coat and a dent in his otherwise pristine face.

Caine couldn’t help but smirk.  He’d thought her weak but there was a fierceness in her that he could sense now.  She smelled scared and very sad, but she was also angry.

“What happened?”  He spoke quietly to Famulus.

“She attacked Bob when he tried to help her, and she destroyed half the lab.”  Famulus spoke in a harsh whisper.  “She’s wild and irrational.  Idiot tercie scum.”

“Violence is incompatible with my programming.”  Bob offered, his head wobbling even more.

It occurred to Caine then, that out of everyone in the room he was not the least respected.  The universal pecking order stated that royalty was at the top, then other Entitled, human elite, then human commoners, splices, androids, animals and then stock.  Even he hadn’t been thinking of her as a person, not really.  He’d thought of her as ‘the tercie’ but her name was Jupiter, and she was just as much a person as he was, if not more.

“I doubt there’s any need for a gun-bot.  She’s just upset.”  He said loud enough that she would hear him.  “Wouldn’t you be, if you’d been attacked, taken from your home and told that your planet isn’t the only inhabited planet in a universe so full of planets that you don’t have a number big enough to describe how many there are?”  He moved towards her.

She hadn’t looked up since he entered the medical suit.  Her sobbing continued, sending shudders through her body.

“Jupiter?”  His voice soft as he crouched far enough away so as not to intimidate her.

She looked up.  Eyes red and swollen, lips puffy, and hair dishevelled.  The scent of her tears pulled on something deep within him.  He wanted to comfort her, protect her.  A few of the buttons of her shirt were broken, she closed the opening, eyes darting up to his face, fearful.  Nervously she licked at her already red lips.

“I’m not going to harm you, I’m here to make sure you’re alright.”  Caine cast an angry glance at Famulus.

No surprise Jupiter had fought back.  The med-tech was probably treating her like the stock she would be if her circumstances hadn’t changed as they had.  Who knew, she may still suffer that fate, but for now she had a right to some dignity.

Caine laid a medical gown in front of her, it was the second time she’d have to wear one in as many days.  He had knowledge of Earth customs and cultures downloaded into his implant as part of his research for the extraction job.  The rest of the verse didn’t share the same sensibilities for nudity and privacy as Earthlings did.  For the rest of them it was an accepted part of their daily lives, privacy was an illusion.  He remembered how she’d been offended, up in the tower, to wake in her own clothes, realising he’d dressed her without her consent.

“Are you hurt?”

She shook her head, wiping her nose on the back of her hand.

“Tell me what happened.”  He inched closer until he could reach out to soothe her if needed.

She seemed to gather herself, indignation rising from her in waves.

Caine would be patient but Famulus was already tapping her foot on the floor.  Something wasn’t quite right about all of this, surely the medical scan could wait until Jupiter was ready.  They hadn’t quarantined her, after all, unless they thought she had something life-threatening wrong with her.  He took in her scent again, searching for signs of malady.  The drugs from the clinic had already left her system and she smelled healthy.  Her femininity was a little different.  Before, it had seemed disjointed, but now her scent was smoother and richer, and really quite lovely.

“He tired to undress me.”  Her voice was shaky.  “When I said no, he tried to force me.”

“I understand.”  He said softly.  “Things aren’t the same here as they are on Earth.  We use androids for many things.  They seem to have personality but they lack the empathy a living being would have.  The med-tech was just following his program, it works on assumed compliance.”

She was a mess, unable to meet his gaze.  Her eyes flickered around the room, taking in everything.  Seeing the gun-droid for the first time her eyes went wide.

“I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone, I just tried to defend myself.”   She panicked a little.

“It’s ok, the guard is here to protect Famulus.  We don’t ever really interact with people like you, Jupiter.  It’s just a precaution.”  He offered a reassuring smile.  “The medical scan is just a quick, uhh…”  He searched his Earth database.  “CAT scan.  It’s a little bit tingly but it’s over with quickly and we can get you something to eat and somewhere to rest, ok?”

She accepted his explanation, releasing her legs she reached for the gown.

“I’ll stay.”  He pointed to the three onlookers.  “Just over there.  Ok?”

She nodded, pulling the gown to her chest as she struggled to stand.  Caine offered his hand, and she took it, cool skin against his, grip firm as he pulled her to her feet.  He turned his back and folded his arms across his chest, glowering at Famulus who took the hint and turned away.

 

Once in the scanner, the gown was removed, and Jupiter covered herself with her arms.  She looked at him as the glass closed around her.  He made sure his head was turned to protect her modesty – a concept he was unfamiliar with but could fully understand.

“Try to relax, Ms Jones.  Arms by your sides, please.”  Bob said in his peppy tone as he interfaced with the console.

Caine could see the results popping up on the screen, everything seemed normal and then an alert popped up red but went to yellow a second later.  Bob paused the process.

“Ms Jones, have you recently been pregnant?”

“Ummm, no.”  She continued to look at the ceiling.  “I had hormone treatments though, because I was donating my eggs at the fertility clinic Caine rescued me from.  Could that be it?”

Bob adjusted the scanner and the alert went green.  “Yes, that seems to have fixed it.”  He continued the scan.

Hormone treatments, Caine thought.  That’s why she’d smelled weird, the unnatural hormones in her system broke up her scent.  He refocused on the floor, keeping her in his peripheral only.


	4. The First Violation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jupiter is forced into a medical procedure that is extremely painful and invasive. Caine fights for her but is eventually subdued. Jupiter gets her first glimpse of life under the power of Titus Abrasax.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the very short chapter. I wanted to get the point across of how little Jupiter can suffer before she regresses into herself, that is until she's provided suitable motivation later on.

Jupiter screamed the very second the robot arms clamped onto her ankles and wrists.  She was frozen in place, unable to move her body.  It was like the clinic all over again only this time she wasn’t suffocating.  A sharp prick in her arm had her eyes rolling frantically, she couldn’t see anything other than the glass top of the capsule but she could hear and feel everything.  A burning feeling spread through her whole body.

“What are you doing to her?”  Caine shouted as her legs were lifted and spread.

She struggled to move but she had no control of her limbs.  She couldn’t turn, sit or so much as clench a muscle from the neck down.  Her breathing was her own, however, and her heart was hammering in her chest. She let out a strangled scream when something cold skirted up the inside of her thigh.

“Stay back, Mr Wise, or you’ll become another casualty in this little endeavour.”

There was a feral growl and some commotion, but Jupiter was consumed with her own predicament.  Were they experimenting on her?  Taking samples?  Were they going to kill her?  Why?  She was a nobody, not even remotely important on her own planet, which was in no way important in their universe.

She was in full panic now, hyperventilating, heart racing, and sobbing.  Gasping breaths all but collapsing her chest.

Suddenly she felt a cold pressure seeking entry between her legs.  A spray of some sort sent a trickle of cold liquid running over her vulva and down between her buttocks.  The invasion had her gasping, holding her breath, then she felt the stretch and something clamping around her cervix.  It wasn’t painful but uncomfortable, much like a PAP smear.  They should have asked permission, they should have told her what...

Sharp pain stopped all thought.  Agony bloomed throughout her abdomen, growing in intensity, spreading up into her gut and down towards her back.  She wailed, tears loosing from her wide eyes.  She felt more pressure, and in her skull the vibrations of something whirring.  Her mouth forming the word ‘no’ over and over again as her throat constricted until nothing escaped but a horrific high-pitched keening sound she barely recognised as her own.

Smashing sounds nearby registered vaguely at the back of her mind, but the loud bang on the capsule snapped her eyes to the side.  Caine was there, hand planted firmly on the glass, struggling against something behind him.  His eyes were pained but fierce, and his teeth were bared in a wolf-like snarl.

“Jupiter…”  He whispered, his throat working, trying to swallow, trying to speak.  He was yanked away, almost howling as he fought.

The sounds of his struggle continued until she was no longer aware.  The pain was so intense that she hadn’t realised the probe had left her and her restraints were gone.  She lay, letting her tears drown her and her gurgling sobs come to an end.  She retreated inside herself and let herself be lifted from the scanner and into a hover-chair.  She knew then that she was never going to see her family again.  She might not even survive.


	5. Birthday Gift

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Titus's birthday and as a gift Famulus has arranged a special pleasure for him in his Theatre. Violet, his warbler-bird splice and favourite attraction, gives an outstanding performance for the voyeurs which has Titus reeling for the first time in millennia. Yes, he's actually got nothing to say for once.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's no Caine or Jupiter in this chapter save for a brief mention but it's full of porny goodness. Enjoy ;)

“He seems oddly attached to her, My Lord.”  Famulus said as Titus watched the vid-feed of the tercie’s room.

She had been in bed since her procedure several hours ago.  Perhaps he should have authorised use of Recell but he’d wanted to break her, make her pliable.  There was nothing better than suffering to put one’s perspective in order, or so he was told.

“Where is the lycantaint now?”

“In the cells, My Lord.”

“Very well, leave him there.  I haven’t decided what to do with him yet.”  He flexed his fingers in a flourish of glinting rings and flamboyancy.  “If there is a bond there, then perhaps it could work to my advantage.”

“Of course, My Lord.”  Famulus touched her comm implant.  “The theatre is ready for you now.”  She bowed and backed away.

 

Titus’s pleasure theatre was an entire section at the top of his clipper: several floors of private rooms, holo-suites, and arenas; a large public area with many anti-grav stages, cushioned stages and some, more clandestine stages;  and a beautiful garden filled with fruits and flowers of awe-inspiring beauty and delicacy.  All of which served one purpose – to indulge and explore every desire, every fantasy, every sexual more and some of the unacceptable ones too.

Titus had to congratulate himself on his daring as well as his imagination.  People paid him a fortune for membership to his theatre.  He had attractions found nowhere else in the Verse: copyrighted splices such as Violet, the aforementioned warbler-bird splice; trademarked products like Talaxian Amber, a drink so potent that it raised arousal levels to untold heights; and pioneering technologies like those he employed to provide safe experiences for all of his clients, no matter what diseases they had to begin with, Omni-guard protected against them all.

 

His personal public anti-grav stage was illuminated.  Several splices floated in the pale beam.  Titus almost always took his pleasure in the public forum, showcasing the goods on offer.  On the rare occasion he took to a private room, it was usually for something a little more personal with affections involved perhaps, or even to test a new addition to the theatre.  He felt a little giddy, nervous even, at the prospect of breaking in the tercie, but he would have to wait until she healed somewhat.  In the meantime he would immerse himself in Violet.

The swish of purple feathers and a resonating giggle up on his stage pulled him back to the here-and-now.  He de-robed, stepping into the beam he let it carry him upwards.  The ‘ooohs’ and ‘ahhhs’ of his harlots as he nestled among them never ceased to entertain him.  The lazy stirrings of arousal grew between his legs as a small iridescently-scaled fish-splice nipped at his chest with her teeth and soothed his nipples with her tongue.

And then there was Violet.  Titus sometimes had her alone.  She was special.  He wasn’t possessive enough to keep her to himself, but he would only approve her use for the right price.  Tonight, he wanted to share his pleasure in her with the voyeurs who would watch in the public forum.

She practically swirled around him, the long purple feathers on her arms and back tickling him as she worshiped him with her body.  Her eyes were large and dark, and never left his as she kissed her way down his body, her lips vibrating as she hummed against his skin.  The other harlots were touching and tasting him but it was secondary to her ministrations.  They were always secondary to her.

She moaned as the fish-splice, Gilly, licked into her from behind.  Violet was devoted to her craft, she would never allow herself to be distracted in the midst of pleasuring her master, without permission.  She shifted, bringing the girl up to kiss Titus.

He groaned, tasting the salty tang of her on the girl’s lips.  His cock throbbed, gaining him a seductive giggle from Violet as she teased him with her tongue.  Titus reached for her as she slid him into her mouth and allowed him to push himself further into her throat.

“Fuucckk...!”  He moaned, feeling the ridges on the inside of her gullet, and the tightness as she closed around him.

They re-orientated themselves so that she was on her arched back with him above her, thrusting slowly into her mouth as she sung for him.  The vibrations in her throat sending waves of intense pleasure through his cock where it settled and built low in his abdomen.  He slid his hands down her body, gripping and pinching, pulling her into him.  She was wet when he slipped his fingers between the folds of her sex.  He tasted her again, less salty from his own skin than Gilly’s lips, but still the tangy sweetness he’d grown to adore.

As if she could read his mind, Gilly spread Violets legs, licking her eagerly, causing her to moan deeply.  The others joined in pleasuring their fellow harlot.  Titus had never been a giver in this respect, he’d always taken pleasure from his workers, more so when they enjoyed what he did to them.  He never considered the satisfaction of gifting that to them in this fashion.  He wanted to do this for Violet, after all, she was his most special possession, his familiar.

 

She reached up to grip his hand as she climaxed.  Spasms running through her body followed by the most vivid fuchsia blush, even her nipples darkened.  He’d never seen that in her before, never seen her orgasm like that, but she never missed a beat.  Her continued ministrations had him perched on the edge, ready to come.  He’d been there a while now but she knew how to hold him right there, riding the line between too much and not enough.

He leaned forward as the last of her pleasure faded, holding her firm he buried himself in her to his balls.  She changed the pitch of her song, undulating her throat against his now almost painfully swollen cock.  Something like a finger or a tentacle slipped into his anus, pressing down in places that had his brain shorting as his pleasure peaked.

It was a dry explosion, nothing came out.  He was floundering, gasping against the bright-white intensity trapped in his groin, moaning as he sought more friction to push himself over.

Violet withdrew, leaving him beached on a shore of pleasure, so close to pain now he was afraid it would never end.  She smiled as she straddled him, taking him inside her sex.  It felt hotter there but no more or less intense.  She rode him, took control, used him mercilessly.  The pressure in his groin grew until he felt the throbbing begin to sparkle with pins and needles.  She kissed at the tears forming on his lower lids and watching him intently she began to lose herself again.  Grinning, eyes closed in pleasure, she orgasmed again.

As she spasmed around him something released within him, and everything withheld came flooding forth.  It was so sharp, so bright, with stars bursting behind his eyes.  A perfect release that ripped a cry from his throat so loud there were murmurs among the voyeurs.

He shook and clung to her.  Both of them, now alone, suspended in the pale light.  She smoothed her hand down his face and dared to kiss his lips unbidden, never once looking away.  So bold, so brazen, and so personal, his gloriously perfect splice.

“Happy Birthday!”  She whispered against his lips and he laughed.  He’d completely forgotten.

 

The grav-field wound down, depositing them softly on the cushions beneath.  She parted from him then, standing, a mixture of their fluids dripping down her legs.  She was beautiful, bending to help him to his feet.

Legs shaking, he stepped down to loud applause and whistles from a now large crowd.  He felt vulnerable, exposed.  He’d never felt anything like that before and it had wrecked him, scared him even.

 

Titus locked himself in his suite, taking only room service.  He declined all calls, sleeping until late the next day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A familiar, in this story, is something like a concubine but where only humans can be concubines to royalty, a familiar is a splice lover who is perhaps cherished or loved more than any others.
> 
> In this case, Violet is Titus's familiar, though he could have more than one, and he does seem the type to do just that. But I think I'll stick with him just having one as it's uncharacteristically sentimental of him, and I'm enjoying that one peculiarity to offset his Machiavellian ways.


	6. Games

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caine expects Titus to punish him for his outburst, he even expects death. What he doesn't see coming is a sneak peak at Titus's evil plan. It's all one big game to the Third primary of House Abrasax, and one that Caine is now forced to play.
> 
> Is there a way out for him? Can he save Jupiter before Titus's plan comes to fruition?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Although I love to torture the characters there's not a lot of that in this chapter besides mind games and promised future torment. I'm intending this fic to be as black as my heart so you've been pre-warned.

The cells on Titus’s clipper were smaller than most.  Deep cylindrical holes in the floor barely wide enough to sit comfortably, dark and locked with grid of bars that circled the opening like a star burst.  They were strong too, Caine had already tried several times to break out but to no avail.  Where would he go anyway?  They would know he’d broke out of his cell, though he might make it to the hangar and escape before they launched the warhammers.  He wouldn’t, however, make it to Jupiter and out in time.

Caine had brought her here, against her will, and now that he’d seen that Titus’s intentions weren’t benign, he felt he had an obligation to get her out.  Cerise was the only place he could think of where she might be safe.  Anywhere else and either Balem or Titus would find her and she’d be dead or worse.

 

The memory of her was so raw.  He could still see her in the med-scanner, legs up and spread, core exposed, arms clamped by her sides, chest racked with shuddering sobs, lips pulled back in a harrowing wail, tears spilling from her fear-filled eyes.  They had tortured and violated her.  She screamed as they scrambled her insides.  Whatever they’d done should have been done under anaesthetic.

Caine felt he was no better than them in her eyes.  He’d assured her she’d be ok.  Promised her the scan wouldn’t hurt.  He’d betrayed her with his ignorance and then failed to stop it.  The fourteen armed guards he’d destroyed before they’d managed to restrain him was a pitiful show of his rebellion, it just hadn’t been enough.  He hadn’t done enough.

 

Titus was furious, or so Famulus said when they threw him in the hole.  It had been almost two days and he had yet to see Titus or hear of what form his punishment would take.  Who knew what kind of degrading scheme Titus would concoct for him to endure.  Maybe he’d end up back in the Deadlands.

They’d fed him basic nutrition cube rations, at least they weren’t just going to leave him in here to rot.

 

Caine dozed.  There was no point in being exhausted.  He couldn’t do anything in here, nor could anyone do anything to him.  He rested his back against the wall and planted his feet up opposite him.  It wasn’t the most comfortable he’d ever been but it also wasn’t the worst.

He heard the approaching footsteps vibrating though the walls before any personnel were present in the brig.  He stood, awaiting his visitors.

The bars unlocked but didn’t slide away immediately.  He looked up to see Famulus smirking down at him.

“Get him out.”  She snapped at the guards before turning her attention on him.  “Who knows, Mr Wise, if you’re lucky Lord Titus may find a use for you yet.”

“And if not?”  he grumbled as his hands were clamped behind his back

“Then you’ll likely be fed to the void.”  Her tone was chipper and her smile bright.  She and Titus were like two peas in a pod, twisted, sick and calculating.

 

Caine was taken up through the clipper’s various levels using the staff elevators until they were somewhere near the bridge, he thought.  He was shoved into a small room fitted with a huge security vid station.  Titus was there, watching intently.

All the feeds showed bedrooms of sorts.  Some were bedecked with restraining harnesses and simple torture equipment, one of these was in use with a man swinging from the ceiling, impaling himself anally on the outreaching appendage of a masked android.

Caine scanned the feeds, stopping on one in particular – a lone woman dressed in regal garb, pacing the room.  His sharp inhale drew the entitled’s attention.

Titus’s zoomed the image so it filled the entire wall.

“I see my praise of your performance was too hasty.”  Titus steepled his fingers below his chin, observing Caine smugly.  “Your feral, uncontrollable nature is somewhat problematic.  You leave me no choice but to discipline you, execute you or send you back to the Deadlands.”

Caine remined silent, observing the position of people in the room, the vid feed of Jupiter, and Titus’s body language.  Titus wasn’t lying when he said those were his options.  Caine already knew that.

“What is it about this tercie girl, Mr Wise, that has you all hot and bothered?”

Titus wouldn’t have stepped closer if he’d truly known what Caine was capable of.  As it was, to kill an entitled carried a death sentence for any splice unless they were acting on the orders of another, higher ranking entitled.  Caine could kill him, and he wouldn’t even mind dying for it, the trade seemed more than fair, but Jupiter would be stuck.  What would happen to her?

“Have you developed feelings for her so soon?”  Titus mused.  “Are you even capable?”

Caine remained impassive.  It was futile to even acknowledge his questions.

“That’s it!”  Titus smirked.  “You love her, don’t you?”  He seemed pleased with himself.

Caine didn’t really know what he felt.  Protective, yes.  Guilty, definitely.  Love?  What did that even feel like?  And why was he even considering Titus’s query?  It was nothing but a game.

“I wonder, Famulus…”  he paused for dramatical effect, play acting.  “Do you think he knows?”

“He can’t possibly, My Lord.”  If she was in the dark about his question she played a convincing role.

“It would certainly explain his automatic loyalty to her.”  Titus sighed as if weary.

That got Caine’s attention.  Automatic loyalty?  Caine’s loyalty had never been up for discussion.  He was loyal to whomever owned his contract.  At this moment in time it was still held by the Legion until Titus decided to seal and file his pardon, at which point Caine would be owned by him.  Titus had to know that.

In the past Caine had felt loyalty to only a few other people, not related to ownership:  Stinger, his commander in the Skyjackers, but more than that, Stinger was his friend;  Stinger’s daughter Kiza; and when Caine was much younger, an ursintaint (called Bregon) in his dorm at splicing facility, who had been sold to a refinery construction company never to be seen again.

“Anyway!”  Titus enthused.  “You’re here for a reason, Mr Wise.  You see, I’m about to do what villains in stories… am I a villain?  I suppose I am, to you.”  He glanced back at the screen for a moment, collecting his thoughts.  “The thing is, Mr Wise, I’m going to offer you a choice.  You can choose your own punishment.”

If it sounded like a trap that’s because it was exactly that.  Caine had come to expect nothing less from any Entitled.  Their lives too long and boring, they seek amusement in the misery of others, growing colder and crueller over time.  Titus was over fourteen thousand years old.  That was plenty of time to develop a sadistic streak.

“I’m nothing if not fair, wouldn’t you say, Mr Wise?”

Caine shifted uneasily, biting the inside of his cheek to restrain himself from speaking.

“As you can see your little tercie is currently locked safely away in one of the rooms in my theatre.  My plan for her is to put her to work.  People will pay top credit for someone with her looks.”

Caine growled.  “You should have told me why you wanted her.”

“And spoil all the fun?  Oh no, Mr Wise, there’s more to come yet.”

Tiitus brought up the listing in his catalogue of services.  A picture of Jupiter dressed as she was now, jewelled crown and regal gown against a picture of an older version of herself.  No, that wasn’t right.  He looked closer.  It was a different woman, harsher lines, cold eyes, the shape of her ears were a touch different; subtle but noticeable to him.  The description read ‘Seraphi Abrasax”.

“What the hell is this?”  Caine couldn’t help but gawk at Titus, who was besides himself with amusement.  “She’s a recurrence?”

“Absolutely not.”

“A clone?”

“Something close.”  Titus purred.  “You see, Balem has been growing her on his planet, hidden away, in secret.  He plans to unveil her to claim the inheritance of the first estate.  It includes planets from my inventory, our sister’s, and even his own.  Then when the time is right, she will disinherit us and name him her sole heir, gifting him everything upon her untimely death.”

It made perfect sense, but there was a lie caught up in there somewhere.  Caine couldn’t pick it out, he was reeling.  A clone?

“You’re going to kill her?”

“Goodness, no.”  He dismissed the notion with a wave.  “I plan to pervert his creation, bend her to my will and make myself her heir by marriage.  There will be no need for her death as long as she behaves accordingly.”

It was difficult for Caine to distinguish Titus’s outright lies in his current state of distraction.  They all reeked of half-truths.  He supposed the best liars always exploited the truth to add credence to their stories.  If what he said was even half true, then Jupiter was a pawn in a much bigger plot.  Clone or not, Titus was going to exploit her for sex in his theatre, against her will or with her permission, it didn’t matter.  And if she towed the line, she would have a life as the manipulated first primary of House Abrasax, and wife to her gene-son Titus.  If not, she would die as soon as he got what he wanted from her.

Jupiter’s only options for life were to submit to Titus or to escape with Caine in the hopes that Kalique had a less sinister plan for her.

“What’s any of this got to do with me?”

“I’m glad you asked.”  He shifted the image back to the feed of Jupiter.  “I’m rather upset with you for destroying my property.  And since you seem, let’s say, _fond_ of this tercie woman, I have decided by my good graces, to allow you to choose your own punishment for your transgressions.  But…”  He cautioned.  “Your choices will affect her.”

Caine’s heart skipped a beat, dread crawled over his scalp and down his spine before it settled in his gut, cold and seething.  He flexed against his restraints – they were solid.  Titus was too far away now, he’d missed the opportunity.

“I’ll even let you discuss it with her, and have a chance to bare your feelings, should you choose to.  I dare say she’ll take it better from you than from me.”

“You can’t do this.”  Caine was suddenly being forced to his knees.  “They’ll find out she’s a clone and they’ll destroy her, then they’ll strip you of your status for your fraud.”

“I can do as I please.  I haven’t created any clones, I merely saved a girl who bears a family resemblance and made her my wife.”

Caine struggled against the hands holding him down, growled, snapped and tried to twist his way free.  It was no use, he wouldn’t succeed this way.  Submitting, he let himself relax until he was sitting back on his feet.

“That’s better.”  Famulus leaned in close behind him.  “Remember your place, runt.”

“Your options…”  Titus began.  “One. You can be reinstated and pardoned, and you remain in my employ.  However, you must watch as I personally and painfully break the tercie and make her yield to me.  You will be present at each session, even once we’re wed.  It will be a life-time of suffering for her and for you also, I’ll warrant.  Option two.  You take lashes for every session I have with her in exchange for gentler treatment for her.  Until death do you suffer.  Option three.  You convince her to submit, she complies and does what is required, and you go back to the Deadlands.  If she reneges then she dies and you stay on the prison world.  Option 4.  I feed you to the void, wipe her and reprogram her so she knows nothing of her past life or anything other than the purpose I dictate for her.”

Caine couldn’t speak, his throat working up and down but no sound came out.  He’d never felt fear like this before, cold and creeping through his veins.  Titus had tapped right into his brain, it seemed, and drew out exactly the information he needed.  He’d never been afraid of death, not for himself, but he’d always fought to survive.  Right now, that instinct was at odds with his need to save Jupiter.  He could not do both.  There had to be a way, if he bought some time, planned an escape and took her with him.  How long would it take though until he could make it work.  There was no way he’d let her suffer.  He would take the lashes for her, but she’d still be violated.  In the Deadlands he would be unable to help her, and same if he were dead.  Though, he thought, his death in exchange for a clean slate for her might be the best way.  If she never knew what she had or what had happened, then maybe she’d be ok.

“I understand if you need some time to think.”  Titus fixed him with an amused smirk.  “You have one half hour to consider your options before you discuss them with the tercie.  One hour after that I will have your answer.”  He winked at Famulus as he strode from the room.

Caine was left with a full security team of armed guards, whose guns were trained on him.  On the screen he saw Jupiter pacing.  She stopped right in front of the camera, looking at something that had her frowning.  She looked well enough, though sadness weighed heavy on her.  Regardless of what Titus thought, Jupiter was not going to want to see Caine after the treatment he talked her into in the medical suite.  He’d wronged her unknowingly, and though she was technically beneath him, even more so now he knew she was a clone, he still wanted to make things right.  He’d do what was necessary, he always did.  This was no different.  He clenched his jaw and waited.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ursintaint would refer to a bear splice.
> 
> Also, thanks for reading so far :) I'm happy to hear your thoughts on this work as this fandom is close to my heart, so I want to do it justice. Cheers!


	7. A Guest?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jupiter awakes from her ordeal, sore and confused. She's given a taste of something she always wanted but, now that it was within reach, she wasn't sure it was worth the price.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just Jupiter in this chapter, no Caine. This is mostly just a push-along chapter.

Jupiter woke with agonising pain in her abdomen.  She wore paper briefs little more dignified than an adult diaper, and a paper gown.  Medical facilities in the bigger universe weren’t any different from the ones on Earth when it came to patient dignity, she thought.

Her head pounded in tandem with the throbbing between her legs.  After a while of laying, trying to gather herself, she tentatively reached to examine herself.  Everything felt normal to touch.  She slid a finger inside, testing, probing gently.  She was tender but she could feel her up to her cervix which was very painful and swollen.  Her finger came away bloody.

It hurt to move and it hurt to sit so she lay on the bed, thinking about her home and her family until it was too much.  She cried herself back to sleep.

 

A chiming sound woke her and the lights came on, dim at first, growing brighter until it looked like a sunny day was filtering in through a skylight.  Fans refreshed the air in the room and the bed lifted to sit her up.  Her door slid open revealing med-tech Bob who was carrying a tray.  He was followed by a human-looking woman in a security uniform who waited in the open doorway.

“Good morning!”  Bob spoke through his unnervingly creepy smile, head bobbing as he moved.

Jupiter wondered absently if the name Bob was planned on account of his wobble, or whether it was just comedic coincidence.

“How are you feeling today?”  His lips barely moved from his trademark expression.

“Well if you don’t count being abducted, violated and having my innards painfully scrambled against my will, then I’m doing just peachy.”  She had no desire to play along.  What did she have to lose but her life?  It was gone anyway.  So what was the point?  She’d never see her family again, the moment she stepped foot on Earth she’d be killed by Keepers and maybe put her family in danger too.  Anywhere else she went she’d be hunted.  It was done, her life gone in the blink of an eye.  But that didn’t mean that she had to make things easy for her captors.

“If you’ll permit…?”  Bob said gesturing to his tray of goodies.  They looked to be fairly innocuous hand-held scanners, and something that looked like an injector.  There were also some cubes of something that looked like jelly and a glass of water.

“What are they?”

“This is to check your vitals and pain level.”  He showed her the equipment and explained each bit.  “This checks cognitive function.  This is a vitamin shot, and this is a sheave.”

“What’s a sheave?”

“It’s a multipurpose document.  This one is for my report.”

“Like an eReader?”

Bob nodded and smiled a thin-lipped smile.

“What are those?”  She pointed at the jelly.

“Nutrition cubes.”

Jupiter screwed her face up.  “Is there no proper food?”

“This has everything you need to keep you healthy.”  Bob fiddled with the device in his hand.  “But there is real food, yes, when you’re recovered.”  He raised the scanner in front of her.  “May I?”

She agreed to let him conduct his tests.  According to him, she was healing nicely, and her pain level had dropped from 80% to 56% since yesterday.  Well, wasn’t that great.

“What exactly did you do to me?”  She rubbed her arm after the shot.

“We cleaned out your uterus, removing the artificially released eggs and fitted an Omni-guard.”  He placed the water and the nutrition cubes on her table.

“What’s an Omni-guard?”

“It’s a device that protects you from illness, disease and stops procreation.”

“And that had to go in my wait-a-goddamn-minute!”  She stood abruptly, regretting instantly the flaring of pain in her abdomen.  “You _sterilised_ me?”  Her chest ached and she felt faint.

“It can be removed, in theory.”  Bob reassured her.

“In theory?  What the hell does that mean?  I want to speak to someone in charge.”  She felt sick.  Just when she thought they were done violating her they came up with another way to torment her.  “And I want to see Caine Wise.”

Of all of them, Caine was the only one who had tried to treat her with respect.  Sure, he’d abducted her initially, but he’d been kind and he’d fought to protect her in the end.  She knew he hadn’t meant to lie to her, she thought maybe they’d lied to him too, or at least withheld things.  She remembered his look of horror when his face was pushed up against the glass, eyes wide and wild as he struggled against the robot guards and fought to free her from the medical scanner.  She hoped he was ok.

 

Hours later she was visited again.  The chiming of the door was barely a curtesy, as it slid open immediately to reveal an unimpressed Famulus.  She seemed to have dropped all pretences of hospitality and amiability.

“I want to see Titus.” Jupiter blurted petulantly before Famulus could speak.

“ _Lord_ Titus is busy. _I_ am the highest-ranking on this vessel other than His Highness.”  She condescended.   “ _You_ are a guest here and His Highnesses pleasure, do him the curtesy of respecting his hospitality.”

“A guest!”  Jupiter was shocked.  Did this woman truly believe that.  “Do you kidnap and violate all your guests?”

“Guest implies that you are afforded some rights and comforts.  If you were a prisoner you’d be in the cells with Mr Wise.”

“I want to see Caine.”  Jupiter jumped at the mention of his name.

“You’re not here to make demands, Ms Jones.  Make no mistake, you are here as a guest until Lord Titus deems otherwise.  How long that lasts depends on you.”  She turned in the doorway.  “I suggest you contemplate the situation you’re in before you go making enemies of the people keeping you safe.”

 

Jupiter felt like crying again.  She didn’t know what to think.  Famulus said they were keeping her safe but they’d hurt her and forced things upon her.  Maybe it was how Caine said, this world wasn’t like her Earth, these people didn’t share the same ideas about dignity and consent as she did.  Maybe they didn’t know what they’d done wrong to her.  But Caine knew.  He’d tried to put them right until they’d broken trust with him too.  No, they knew what they were doing, she decided.

 

 

The next morning her visit from Bob also included Famulus and an odd little man in an exquisite suit that was either deep green or bright purple depending on how the light caught it.  There were also two gun-droids, as Caine had called them, outside in the corridor.

Jupiter ate her breakfast of fruit-flavoured nutrition cubes while Bob conducted his tests in silence.  Nodding his approval to Famulus, she stepped forward.

“We will be moving you to another room.”  She said curtly.  “Something a little more _comfortable_.”

Jupiter didn’t object, she wasn’t used to much.  She shared the basement of Vassily’s house with Mama and Nino since she was just a baby.  Growing up she’d needed her own space so, instead of sharing a bed with Mama, she’d been given her own little corner with a small bed and a nightstand and a curtain for privacy.  It was cramped and sometimes uncomfortable, but she loved her family and she would give up all the big beds and riches in the universe just to be back home with them.

She followed them until drab functional corridors became more aesthetic and more ornate.  This was the guest section, she supposed, which meant the other part was the staff area.

Her new room was more of a suite, like those she saw in the homes that she cleaned for a living.  The reception room was midnight blue, ivory and gold.  The silks and satins of the furniture and drapes were resplendent, and the plush blue carpet was soft underfoot.  The bedroom was done in similar taste with the bed taking centre place in the room on a raised platform.  It was very large with four bed posts but no drapes.  Jupiter pushed on the mattress, it was firm but not too firm.

The bathroom had a small hot tub as well as a shower, and to the side was a large walk-in wardrobe filled with garment bags and shoe boxes that looked very expensive.

“What is all this?”  Jupiter was gobsmacked and confused.

“These are some items that Phinandae has chosen for you.”  Famulus indicated towards her bespoke-suited companion.  “He is Lord Titus’s personal tailor, one of the most sought-after designers in the Verse.”

“Come, let me show you the collection.”  Phinandae gestured fluidly as he walked into the dressing room.  “Everything is the correct size and has a shape flattering to your body type.”

He unzipped bags of dresses that looked more like gowns, and tailored suits that she’d never been measured for but fit perfectly.  Everything was very formal, elegant or grandiose.  Even the shoes fit perfectly.

She’d dreamed of this, in the housed of the women she cleaned for, holding their designed outfits up against herself in the mirror, imagining universe where she, Jupiter Jones, had a life where all of this came as part of the deal.  Now that she was here, she knew it wasn’t what she really wanted.

 

Exhausted, she gently sat on the settee in the reception room.  The pain in her womb was back with a vengeance, or perhaps she’d been too distracted by the change of scenery and the exquisite clothes to notice it.

“Lord Titus wishes you to dine with him this evening.”  Famulus smiled patronisingly as she was about to leave.  “Phinandae has chosen your attire as it would please His Highness for you to be presented well.”

“I don’t want to have dinner with him, I just want to talk to him.”  Jupiter crossed her arms across her chest and frowned.

“Options, Ms Jones.  Consider them.”  Famulus shifted her weight to her back foot, quirking her head in a sassy way.  “When it comes to His Highness, you do not get a choice.  Please ensure you are ready for 6 o’clock sharp.  I will send someone to make sure you are ready in time.”

Jupiter was just about to protest that she didn’t have any way of telling the time when Famulus swiped at her ever-present sheave flicking her hand towards the wall where a display on the wall now showed a clock.

The hiss of the door closing after her let Jupiter know she was alone.  She sat on the settee with her head in her hands.  She wanted to cry again, which frustrated her.  All her life growing up she’d never been one to cry but now, in this bigger and scarily cold universe, all she could think about was what she no longer had.  Her family, her life, her freedom.  She knew, like she knew not to talk to strange men as a child, that these people weren’t good people.  Yes, they said they were keeping her safe, and in a way she supposed they were saving her life if she was to believe the truth about Balem Abrasax – she did believe it, but that wasn’t everything.  Didn’t they have some sort of police?  Caine said he was a soldier.  That implied there was an army, and an army implied there was a government or at least a ruling figure.

Jupiter could spin herself in circles for hours thinking around the situation but the truth was that she knew nothing of this society and the way things were outside her own planet.  Without information and knowledge of their motives and plans she had no way of figuring anything out.  For the moment she was safe, and they didn’t seem to want to hurt her any more than they already had so she’d do as she was asked, keep them happy in the hopes that they continue to treat her well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the next chapter,Jupiter gets to see Caine, and there's a whole bunch of hurt/comfort.


	8. Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Caine is tasked with breaking the news of their predicament to Jupiter, but with their joint futures hanging in the balance, what can they do to save themselves?

Caine was shoved through the open door into a decadent suite he recognised from the security feeds.  Her scent was here, sorrowful, hurt, angry.  The door was locked behind him but he was under no illusions, there was no privacy here.

“Hello?”  She called out tentatively from the bedroom.

“Jupiter, it’s Caine.”

She flew through the doorway and right into his chest, gripping him tight in her arms, pressing her cheek against his.  Stepping back with a hurt look in her eyes she took note of his posture.  His hands were bound behind his back.

“Are you alright?”  She fussed, stepping around him to examine his restraints. “I asked to see you but they wouldn’t let me.”

“I’m fine.”  He hung his head, shame, sadness, and then the heat of his hatred for Titus Abrasax bloomed in his chest.  “I’m sorry I couldn’t stop them.  If I’d known…”

She silenced him with a soft shake of her head, still standing so very close.  He closed his eyes and breathed her deep.  She was good, calming and pure, not at all what he expected a clone to smell like.  Titus had said she wasn’t exactly a clone, maybe she was made like splices were.

“I knew you didn’t mean to lie to me.”  Her eyes began to water but he could only comfort her with his words.

“I didn’t know.  I should have known.”

“How could you have known?”

It was his turn to silence her, shaking his head, letting his shoulders fall slack.  “We don’t have much time.”

 

Jupiter’s mood flexed from horror, terror and panic to anger, hate and fury as he told her Titus’s offer.  In the end she crumpled on her knees and keened into the cushions of the settee, ruining her make-up.

“I would rather die!”  She raged, thumping her fist down onto the damp patch she’d made with her tears.

“Jupiter…”

Caine kneeled next to her, resting his chin on her shoulder in an attempt to draw her closer.  She threw her arms around him and buried her face in his neck.

“Don’t react.”  He whispered against her ear.  “They’re watching and listening to everything we say and do.  They can hear all but the tiniest sounds.”

Jupiter sobbed as if on cue.  She was a fast learner.

“I think your best option is to agree to his terms.  I don’t mind the Deadland, I survived it for over 3 years, I can do it again, for longer.”  Her scent was on his lips from where they brushed against her skin, the taste of her gave joy to his tongue like no food ever had.  He gasped a little before her continued sobs camouflaged his words.  “You mustn’t suffer.  I’ll do everything I am able to ensure that you don’t.  If you’d rather not remember any of it that’s ok too.”

“What does it mean, being fed to the void?”  Her breath tickled against his brand, warm and scant.

“That doesn’t matter, Jupiter.  The point is that it’s a price I’m willing to pay so you can live on however you chose to.”

She gripped him tighter.

“I won’t let you be hurt on my account.”  She sobbed in Ernst again, letting her tears roll down his neck.  After a while she gathered herself.  “What does he mean by break me?  Is it torture?”

Caine felt sick.  He’d not fully explained the situation.  He drew back from her forcing her to voice her question louder.

“What’s he going to do to me?”  She sat back, secrecy forgotten.

 

Her eyes were big and beautiful, even bloodshot and full of fear as they were.  His heart twisted in his chest until he was absolutely certain that he would die for this woman.  If he had to do a little manipulation of his own then so be it.  Better he died and she forgot about him and everything else she’d ever known.  Titus would make her believe whatever she needed to in order to complete his plan.  They’d succeed and she would be safe in the position created for her as House Abrasax’s first prime, and wife to Titus if that were even an option now.

“Titus has a pleasure house.  He calls it a theatre.  He acquires rare and unique creatures to pleasure and titillate.”  He continued despite her grave expression.  “For unwilling workers he will mentally break them through sexual torture until they either yield, or are so debased that they are no longer capable of any thoughts or desire to disobey.  The latter is his preference, I’ve heard.  Once you’re his to command, he plans to wed and use you to control vast amounts of wealth and resources in his family business.  After that he plans to use you in his theatre, pleasuring those rich enough to pay his price.  It will be an extremely painful and long process, Jupiter, possibly years.  This kind of conditioning can only be achieved through long-term suffering or DNA splicing.”  His voice broke.  It had been harder than he thought to outline.

“Spliced like you are?”

“Not exactly.  I’m not a pleasure splice.  My conditioning is for loyalty, strength, agility, skill and aggression.  But the splicing process is the same.”

“Can I be spliced to be what he wants rather than torture?”

His heart bled for her.  She shouldn’t have to try to understand a world like this.  She’d been blissfully unaware of any of this until a few days ago.  All of this pain and misery just because someone decided to make her look like former Queen Seraphi Abrasax.

“No, not like that.  We’re spliced in sequencing machines and formed into a fertilised reproductive cell where we’re grown in glass tubes for three months before being decanted.  That’s birth for us.  Maybe you were made the same way.”

“What do you mean, I was made?”  She frowned.  “I was born on a container ship in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  No hospital or doctors were there for my mother when aunt Nino fed her vodka and helped her push me out of her womb.”

“Memories can be planted, Jupiter.  It’s possible that none of what you family remember of your birth was actually real.”  He begged her with his eyes to remain focused on the thing that really mattered – keeping her alive.

“Why does he need me for this plan of his?  I’m nobody.”  She dried her eyes on the back of her hand.

“A nobody that looks like his mother, the head of the Abrasax family and ruler of the Abrasax empire.”  Caine saw the disgust on her face.

“He wants to rape and torture someone who looks like his mother?”  She shook her head in denial and disbelief.  “That’s one of the most fucked-up things I’ve heard in my life!”

Perhaps he should have started by explaining this first and the decision last.  Maybe she’d have latched onto the choice more had it been the last thing she heard.  Her rage was palpable.  He could almost taste it in the air, sour and prickly against his senses.

“Jupiter, please!”  He begged of her.  “We’re running out of time.”

“We never had any time, Caine.”  She laid her hands on his shoulders and knelt once again in front of him.  “This is just a game to them.  You and me, we’re just pawns.”  She squeezed his shoulders, searching his eyes for something, he didn’t know what.  “I don’t like being used.”  She sounded resolute and calm.

“Titus will expect my decision very soon.”  Caine understood that part of his punishment was to decide.  Titus must’ve realised that the empathy lacking in all lycantaints had suddenly surfaced in him, because of her.  It was a cruel trick.

She held him close again, for secrecy.  “Why is it your decision?”

“My punishment.”

“It’s mine too.”  Her breath in his ear tickled, raising goosebumps.

“I tried to save you.  He sees I care, so my punishment is to offset my own against yours.  I can choose leniency for only one of us.  He knows already what my choice will be.”

“What will you choose?”

“Death.”  He couldn’t say it any plainer.

“That’s bullshit!”  She was loud enough for the surveillance to pick up.  “No!”

“Or Deadlands.”  He leaned against her shoulder.  “I would suffer in your place, it’s the least I can do.”

“What about escape?  Is there no way for you to escape?”

“Yes, but not with you.”

“What if I could buy you time?”

“How much time?  And how?”

“How long would you need?”

“Maybe days.  Maybe weeks.  Jupiter what you’re talking about, it’s a huge risk.”

“I can do weeks.”  She said resolutely.  “He’s going to do what he wants with me anyway, right?  So it might as well be for a reason.”

“Jupiter, no…”  His chest was aching like his organs were falling farther than they had any business doing.  “You don’t know what he’ll do.  I can’t let you do this.”

“And I won’t let _you_.”  Her lips brushed his jaw.  “We need to make a plan and decide which of the options bests suits us.  If we have any chance of escape we’re both going to have to be playing by the same rules.”

She was right.  He could get them both out but it would take time.  He wasn’t sure what to do once free.  Seeking asylum with Kalique might be a good idea initially but there was no guarantee she wouldn’t sell them out to one of her brothers for a more favourable share in the family wealth.  The Aegis would take Jupiter away and probably kill her once she is confirmed a clone.  The Legion wouldn’t get involved in such a petty issue.  He couldn’t take her back to Earth.  Orus wouldn’t be any better.  They could get lost in an outer-arm space station somewhere but that was no guarantee.

They made their choice and they made their plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know how the villains always fall fowl in the telling of their plans to their victim? Do we think Titus is immune to this? He's obviously never watched a Bond movie ;)
> 
> I hope you're enjoying the ride so far, despite me being a little slow in updating. I'm not going to lie, I write slow and sporadically, sorry. JA and the Jupiter/Caine pairing was one of my first fan fic reading loves, and I still have love for them, they're just so raw.
> 
> Thanks for reading :) Peace & love x


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